Books and/or other reading articles, such as for example wholesale, retail and/or industry ordering catalogs, user manuals, etc., are oftentimes heavily used by customers and customer service representatives alike. As such articles may be limited in their production frequency, over time such articles may become easily damaged and worn, especially if the books are large and/or voluminous. Moreover, large books are often unwieldy, difficult to manipulate, and/or difficult to share with others. For example, to share a particular passage of a book with a second user standing in a different position the first user must manually lift, slide, and/or rotate the book. While sliding and/or rolling a large item may be well intended, a typical book cover and/or book support system will likely cause damage to the support surface.
There have been various attempts in the prior art to improve book and/or catalog readability. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,728,431 describes a book support that includes a detachable book-supporting device. The supporting device includes relatively foldable elements capable of lying in compact relation against the back of the book cover when not in use as a support for the book.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,623 generally describes a telephone book holder having replaceable covers for book of varying thickness. Specifically, a telephone book holder is described which consists of a spine with two groups of parallel channels in its rear surface. Edges of front and rear covers are dimensioned to be slid into respective channels of each group, the edges being connected to the covers by living hinges. Book retaining wires are pivotally connected at the top end of the spine and can be press fitted to the other end to retain a telephone book in position. Top and bottom caps are securable to the ends of the spine to retain the covers and the wires on the spine. The covers can be replaced without requiring removal of the book or complete detachment of the end caps and the thickness of the book to be held is adjustable by sliding the covers into appropriate channels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,806 generally describes a book cover for reliably holding a book in an open position. The holder includes a back plate with tabs thereon for capturing the front and back covers of an open book. A pair of page holders are hingedly mounted on an upper region of the back plate, which are spring-biased into contact with the exposed left and right hand pages of the open book. The page holders are made of transparent material and have smooth surfaces in contact with the book pages so that the latter are easily slid beneath the holders.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,621 is directed to a book holder that may be used as a book carrier and may be positionable with an adjustable book holder. In particular, The described book holder essentially comprises a pair of spaced-apart planar book support elements joined by a hinged spine support element that accommodates the book spine. A pair of book holder slope support elements are each joined by a hinge to the top edge of a respective book support element. A closed cord loop element co-operates with the lower extremes of each book support element and each slope support element to vary the reclining slope of the planar book support elements during reading use.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,240,887 relates generally to a book holder that, when open, supports the book for reading and when closed, protects the book. Particularly, a book holder for supporting and protecting an article of reading material is provided. The book holder includes a spine, a pair of cover panels, each of the cover panels is hingedly coupled to the spine to permit the pair of cover panels to be rotated into an open position and to be rotated into a closed position. A page holder assembly is provided to hold the book open and for marking a page.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,731,147 describes a universal bookholder that allows a book to be carried and read in a number of locations. The universal bookholder includes a pair of cover members forming an inner space to receive a book therein. A supporting unit is combined between the pair of cover members so as to be folded with the cover members. A string installed in the supporting unit is configured to traverse papers of the book for fixing the received book, and at least one guide member is mounted in the pair of cover members. A clamp is movably combined to the guide member for fixing a paper of the received book.
Finally, U.S. Application Publication No. 2007/0252376 describes a toy book having a center chassis and wheels for displaying the book in an upright fashion. Specifically, the publication describes a vehicle-shaped book of foam-based pages includes a center chassis page and at least one body page, each page being constructed of a panel of a semi-flexible foam material. The center chassis page and the body pages are bound to adjacent pages thereof in a book format. Front and rear ground-engaging wheels are rotatably mounted on the center chassis page whereby the vehicle-shaped book is rollable on the front and rear ground-engaging wheels.
While the above identified references generally work for their intended purposes of covering and/or displaying a book, the present disclosure, among other things, provides a structure for protecting a reading article, allows for the display and use of the article, provides a carrying device, and allows for the opened article to be easily shared between readers. The disclosed structure may also protect the book, increasing its shelf-life and provide an attractive means of displaying a book in an open or closed position, which is suitable for decorative and/or promotional purposes.